the white house is saying publicly it will let the nation go over the fiscal cliff if republicans don't fall in line with the president's demands to raise taxes on the rich. the g.o.p. is pointing fingers, too. you don't have to look too hard in washington these days to see the fiscal cliff theater. >> nobody wants to get this done more than me. >> our goal is to make sure it gets solved. >> the president is ready, willing and able, waiting to be able to sit down and seriously negotiate this. but they have to be willing to come to the table with specifics. >> the next 72 hours are critical. if he sits back and continues to play politics, that will give your answer where we're going. >> some lawmakers are actually going back home to their districts. congress has little scheduled business for the rest of the week. house speaker john boehner is saying that's not going to stop negotiations though. in the meantime pentagon officials say the white house has ordered the military to start planning for the possibility of cutting $500 billion from its budget over the next decade in case no fiscal